GameX Promises to Make Your Entire Brain Tingle

Heading out to GameX in Philadelphia this October? Well, between chilling with Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw and The Escapist staff and munching down on cheesesteaks, you might want to check out some of the following “Left Brain” / “Right Brain” panels.

Those snooty West Coasters think they’re so great, what with all their videogame conferences; with their E3s and GDCs and the like. Sure, places like Vancouver, the Bay Area, and LA are game development hotspots, but what about over here on the East? Boston, Montreal, New York City, and The Escapist‘s very own Raleigh-Durham Triangle – among others – are development hubs in their own right, and why shouldn’t we get our own conferences where the best and brightest can share their thoughts about how to make a totally kickass game?

Well, we are – in fact, we’re getting several: Whether it’s the Triangle Game Conference, PAX East, or October’s GameX Industry Summit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, us Easterners are determined to show that the West Coast is in fact not the Best Coast.

Though it had already been announced that Splinter Cell director Clint Hocking would be keynoting the summit, it’s only now that we’ve seen a full list of the panels and speakers who will be appearing at GameX. So in between meeting Yahtzee and playing Bayonetta one-handed, you can sit in on any of these sessions.

The panels are divided into two categories, the “Left Brain” dealing with the numbers and the cash – business strategies and production methods – while the “Right Brain” deals with the creative side of things – the actual content of the game. Personally, I know which side is more appealing to me, but if you’re interested in actually making your way into the industry, the numbers & business sessions might do you well.

You can read a full list of panel descriptions here, but just judging by the names, here are a few that stand out:

“I Can Slack Off, My Code Is Compiling” – a favorite excuse of programmers everywhere.

“Beyond Raids and Ganks: Exploring Next-Gen MMOs in a non WoW-Killer Context” (moderated by Escapist overlord Alexander Macris) – it’s kind of amusing that next-gen MMOGs are defined not by being like WoW, but by being unlike WoW.

“Designing a Kick-Ass E3 Demo” – makes sense. How do you show off an unfinished game in a way that doesn’t make it look awful?

“What If Waiting in Line Was a Game?” – What, you’ve never played an MMOG on opening weekend?

“Inspiration, Homage, or Rip Off? Looking at the Origins of Game Concepts” – Expect this panel to contain at least one Infamous and Prototype comparison, as well as angry Warhammer 40k fanboys complaining that people like StarCraft better.

GameX is October 24-25, and The Escapist will be on site, so if you’re in the Pennsylvania area, come check it out!